CV
Education
- Ph.D in Computer Science, Affective Computing, Clemson University, 2015
- M.S in Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, 2006
- B.S. in Computer Engineering, Auburn University, 2003
Work Experience
2025-2026 Research Fellow \& AI expert
- Lead research into use of LLMs and VLMs to support the practice of eye clinicians.
GeneNetwork at UTHSC
: 2022-2025 Research Fellow & Contractor
- Develop optimal way to improve GeneNetwork and UTHSC genetics, genomics and informatics research with affective, human-centered computing and AI.
- Develop and implement AI/ML/Causal research for GeneNetwork project
Strathmore University @iLabAfrica Research Center
: 2020-2022 Research & Academic Director
- Initiate masters degree program in Data Science and Analytics (DSA)
- Accepted initial cohort into DSA program
- Teach python to DSA students
- Teach Advanced AI & Machine Learning to computer science PhDs
- Technical and professional advisor for onsite professional training cohort
- Published a journal paper and won two grants
- AfroValley
- 2021 Software Architect Contractor
2010-2019
Solomon Ventures LLC & Tint Right Colour Enterprise
2019 Solution/System Architecting, Development, and Consulting
- Architecture developed for a revolutionary housing portal for Kenya, by Kenyans.
Techno Brain Group LLC
2019 Product Manager, Identity Management (IDM) Business Unit
- Developed a new architecture to revamp twelve (12) year old software offering.
- Lead the development of a proof of concept implementation of the architecture, personally building several services.
- Led interaction with client, a country technology representative in the office of the president.
- Consulted, planned and tested migration of company wide software DevOPs.
Work experience
Publications
P. Huang, F. Charton, J.M. Schmelzle, S.S. Darnell, P. Prins and E. Garrison, "Pangenome-Informed Language Models for Synthetic Genome Sequence Generation," 2025 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM), Wuhan, China, 2025, pp. 5025-5033, doi: 10.1109/BIBM66473.2025.11356310.
Darnell SS, Overall RW, Guarracino A et al. Creating a biomedical knowledge base by addressing GPT inaccurate responses and benchmarking context. Open Res Africa 2025, 8:12 (https://doi.org/10.12688/openresafrica.15854.1)
Aminan M, Darnell SS, Delsoz M, Nabavi A, Wright C, Jerkins B, Yousefi S. GlaucoRAG: A Retrieval-Augmented Large Language Model for Expert-Level Glaucoma Assessment. [preprint] medRxiv. 2025 Jul 7:2025.07.03.25330805. doi: 10.1101/2025.07.03.25330805. PMID: 40672509; PMCID: PMC12265780.
Darnell SS and Sevilla J (2021) 3 Stages of a Pan-African Identity Framework for Establishing Self-Sovereign Identity With Blockchain. Front. Blockchain 4:631640. doi: 10.3389/fbloc.2021.631640
K. Nandakumar, N. Ratha, S. Pankanti, and S. S. Darnell, “Secure one-time biometric tokens for non-repudiable multi-party transactions,” in 9th International Workshop on Information Forensics and Security, ser. WIFS ’17, Rennes, France: IEEE, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8267654/.
N. Bore, S. Karumba, J. Mutahi, S. S. Darnell, C. Wayua, and K.Weldemariam, “Towards blockchain-enabled school information hub,” in Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, ser. ICTD ’17, Lahore, Pakistan: ACM, 2017, 19:1–19:4, ISBN: 978-1-4503-5277-2. DOI: 10.1145/3136560.3136584.
S. B. Daily, M. T. James, D. Cherry, et al., Chapter 9 - Affective Computing: Historical Foundations, Current Applications, and Future Trends, M. Jeon, Ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 2017, pp. 213–231, ISBN: 978-0-12-801851-4. [Online]. Available: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128018514000094
Shelby Solomon Darnell, “Engageme: The design and implementation of a reflective tool for evaluating student engagement,” Clemson University All Dissertations, vol. 2015, 1790 May 2015.
M.T. James, S.B. Daily, T. Roy, and S.S. Darnell, “Engageme: Designing a visualization tool utilizing physiological feedback to support instruction,” Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning, vol. 10, 2 2015.
Shelby Solomon Darnell, N. Mack, H. Alnizami, et al., Computing Handbook, 3rd ed. T. Gonzalez, J. Diaz-Herrera, and A. Tucker, Eds. CRC Press, 2014, ch. Human-Computer Interfaces for Speech Applications, 92:1–92:15. [Online]. Available: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781439898536/chapters/10.1201%5C%2Fb16812-10
S. S. Darnell, “Engageme: A tool to simplify the conveyance of complicated data,” in CHI ’14 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Toronto, Canada, 2014. [Online]. Available: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2574765.
T. Roy, M. T. James, A. Gupta, Darnell Shelby Solomon, and S. Daily, “A participatory design process for developing a tool to visualize classroom engagement,” in Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS), 2013.
S. Daily, D. Myers, Shelby Solomon Darnell, T. Roy, and M. James “Understanding privacy and trust issues in a classroom affective computing system deployment,” in Distributed, Ambient, and Pervasive Interactions, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 419--423.
V. Chattaraman, W. Kwon, J. Gilbert, and S. S. Darnell, “Locus of control in conversational agent design: Effects on older users interactivity and social presence,” in Twelth International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2012), Santa Cruz, CA, Sep. 2012.
J. Gilbert, W. Johnson-Stokes, Shelby Solomon Darnell, J. Ekandem, H. Alnizami, and A. M. Martin, “Accessible voting: One machine, one vote for everyone,” in ACM CHI ’11 Video Presentation, Vancouver, Canada, May 2011. [Online]. Available: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1979549.
Shelby Solomon Darnell, I. Alvarez, J. J. Ekandem, D. L. Woodard, and J. E. Gilbert, “Mydash: The biometric digital dashboard,” in Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Multimodal Interfaces for Automotive Applications (MIAA’11) organized at the 2011 International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI’11), Palo Alto, CA, Feb. 2011, pp. 53–56.
S. S. Darnell, “Alleviating escape panic using evolutionary intelligence,” Auburn University Theses and Dissertations, May 2006. [Online]. Available: http://etd.auburn.edu/handle/10415/495.
Carnahan, B., Muhdi, R., Fu, S.-G., Darnell, S., Davis, J., Dozier, G., Smith, A. (2005). “GENEVAC: Evolving Exits for Evacuation Models Via Steady-State Genetic Search,” Technical Report: Auburn University CSSE05-06, May 18, 2005.
Talks
August 25, 2023
Talk/Podcast at Gochappa podcast @ the Nairobi Garage, Kilimani, Nairobi, KENYA
May 16, 2023
presentation at MempanG 2023 Conference at University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), Memphis, Tennessee, USA
May 18, 2022
panel at EAPI Summit @ The Kempinski, Westlands, Nairobi, KENYA
April 08, 2022
Hackathon Talk at iHUB, Kilimani, Nairobi, KENYA
May 12, 2021
panel at Afrovalley Summit, Online
September 15, 2020
Keynote at Strathmore University, School of Business Auditorium, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi, KENYA
October 06, 2018
Invited talk at Hyperledger Meetup @ Strathmore University, Madaraka, Nairobi, KENYA
February 23, 2018
Invited lecture at Moringa School, Nairobi, KENYA
October 11, 2017
Invited lecture at Strathmore University, Madaraka, Nairobi, KENYA
June 09, 2017
Panel at 14 Riverside Drive, Riverside Nairobi, Kenya
May 02, 2016
Invited talk at Strathmore University, Madaraka, Nairobi, KENYA
Teaching
Service and leadership
- Organizer - Mempang2023/2024